Applications of organic and printed electronics a technology enabled revolution

Integrated Circuits and Systems
Series Editor
Anantha P. Chandrakasan

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Eugenio Cantatore
Editor

Applications of Organic
and Printed Electronics
A Technology-Enabled Revolution

123


Editor
Eugenio Cantatore
Department of Electrical Engineering
Eindhoven University of Technology
Eindhoven
Netherlands

ISSN 1558-9412
ISBN 978-1-4614-3159-6
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-3160-2

ISBN 978-1-4614-3160-2

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Preface

The Disruptive Potential of Low-Cost,

Low-Temperature Technologies for Electronics
Electronics, and more specifically integrated circuits (IC), have dramatically
changed our lives and the way we interact with the world. Following the so-called
Moore’s law [1], IC complexity is growing exponentially since 40 years, and this
trend is predicted to continue at least for the coming 15 years [2]. The abundance of
electronic functions at affordable cost has enabled a wealth of applications where
the main IC strengths, namely computational speed and memory capacity, are well
exploited: PCs, portable devices, game consoles, smart phones and alike. The
commercial success of integrated electronics is based on a symbiotic development
of technology and applications, where technical progress and economic growth
nurture each other. This process requires lots of time and effort: first IC patents
where filed in 1949 [3], but it is only in 1971 that the first commercially available
microprocessor (Intel 4004), one of the most far-reaching application of ICs, gained
the market; and PCs became popular only in the second half of the eighties.
The main strength of integrated electronics is in the low-cost-per-function
enabled by an ever growing miniaturization: mono-crystalline silicon real estate is
very expensive, but the number of transistors that can be integrated per area grows
according to Moore’s law, bringing down the cost to realize a given function.
Since the second half of the seventies, a completely different electronic paradigm, the so-called large-area electronics, has been developing. In this field the
major aim is to decrease the cost per area (instead of the cost per function),
enabling large surfaces covered with electronic devices. The main application of
this kind of technology, typically based on amorphous or polycrystalline silicon
transistors, is in active-matrix addressing of flat displays. The success of this
technology has become evident in the last decade, when flat-panel LCD displays
have swiftly replaced traditional cathode ray tubes in television sets.
Amorphous and polycrystalline silicon technology typically require high-temperature vacuum-based processing, with the consequence that glass substrates are

v

vi

Preface

used and that the technology throughput is limited. In the nineties a new technology
approach has been proposed, based on materials that enable low-temperature processing and the use of very high throughput patterning technologies, borrowed from
the graphic printing field: organic and printed electronics were born.
The word ‘‘organic electronics’’, which I personally started using in 2000 [4]
together with many colleagues, designates electronics manufactured using functional carbon-based materials, typically semiconductors, like pentacene, P3HT,
PCBM, PTAA and many others. There are several reasons for this choice:
• Organic materials can form functional films when processed from solutions,
paving the way to manufacturing processes with a reduced number of vacuum
steps (which are typically expensive and cumbersome to scale to large areas),
and thus enabling potentially very low-cost large-area electronics;
• Organic materials are processed at low temperature (typically below 200 °C),
enabling the use of inexpensive and flexible plastic foils as substrates and paving
the way to flexible electronics;
• Organic chemistry is intrinsically very rich, enabling the exploration of a limitless library of materials having very diverse electrical, optical, rheological and
chemical properties;
• Together with the chemical variety, a large spectrum of physically different
devices based on organic materials is possible and has been developed in the
years, the most well-known being organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) [5],
organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) [6, 7], organic photovoltaics (OPVs) [8],
organic sensors [9], organic memories [10, 11], and organic MEMs [12]1.
Together with these strengths, functional organic materials and organic electronics present a number of drawbacks:
• Organic semiconductors have a relatively poor mobility, with peak values for
single-crystal materials in the range of 10 cm2/Vs [13], and typical values in
solution-processed films of about 1 cm2/Vs at the state of the art. Under this
point of view, other materials suitable for low-temperature and large-area processing, like metal-oxide semiconductors and carbon nanotubes, may offer an
advantage compared to organic semiconductors.

• Organic semiconductors (especially n-type) are sensitive to oxygen, moisture
and other environmental aggressors, so that for long time organic electronic
devices have had poor shelf and operational lifetime. Organic materials are also
sensitive to bias stress, which tends to affect operational lifetime. Recent
improvements in the materials, their formulation and encapsulation, however,
show that instabilities should not be a show-stopper for commercialization (see
for instance Sect. 2.3 in Chap. 2 and Sect. 4.4 in Chap. 4);

1

In this section a few early and significant papers have been selected as references.


Preface

vii

• Organic semiconductors are difficult to dope in situ with highly controlled
dopant concentrations as a process equivalent of the ion implantation doping
used in silicon has still not been developed for organic materials. This makes
difficult to manage key parameters like transistor threshold voltages and injection barriers at the contacts.
Many more details on the state of the art and roadmaps of organic electronics
are given in Chap. 1 and in the other chapters of this book.
The capability to deposit organic materials from solution makes possible to
pattern functional materials using methods adapted from graphic printing, like
inkjet, gravure, slot coating and many others. This leads to the concept of ‘‘printed
electronics’’. The main strength of this approach is the high throughput that
characterizes printing production processes, which means that printing has the
potential to make possible very inexpensive large-area electronics, and thus to
enable applications of electronics unthinkable till now. Moreover, printing is an

additive process, thus only the functional materials that are needed are effectively
used, contrary to the traditional lithography-based subtractive approach. This has
the potential to decrease material usage and thus further bring down the costs.
Detailed information on printing electronics is available especially in Chaps. 1, 2
and 6 of this book.
The strengths of printing are paired with the challenges that this technology
faces: it is namely difficult and expensive to develop a new electronic technology
using an approach that in a few minutes can generate rolls covered with hundreds
of meters of electronics to be characterized and optimized. Uniformity, performance and yield are daunting tasks to be solved for future printed electronics
applications.
The potential low cost, the compatibility with large flexible substrates and the
wealth of devices that characterize organic and printed electronics will make
possible applications that go far beyond the well-known displays made with
conventional large-area silicon electronics. Organic and printed electronics can
enable a true revolution in the applications of electronics: this is the view that
brought me, together with a large number of colleagues, to write this book. The
volume offers to the reader an extensive overview of the different devices enabled
by organic electronics, and reviews a large variety of applications that are
developing and can be foreseen for the future.
Chapter 1, written by Tampere University, the Organic Electronic Association
(OA-E) and PolyIC, offers a complete Roadmap for Organic and Printed Electronics spanning till the end of this decade. It is an ideal starting point to understand the complex application scenarios and the likely developments in this rapidly
growing technology domain.
In Chap. 2 by Konarka, Cyprus University of Technology and FriedrichAlexander-University, are discussed Organic Photovoltaics, with great emphasis
on the use of printing processes for their manufacturing. A wide overview of the
printing processes for organic electronics is given, together with the state of the art
of their application to solar cells. Photovoltaic cells do not need fine patterning of


viii

Preface

the structures in the plane of the device, and are thus an ideal candidate to exploit
the high throughput of printing processes. This chapter is an excellent reading
for the person willing to understand more about printing electronics. A roadmap
for organic solar cells concludes this contribution.
In the third and fourth chapter light emitting diodes (OLED), the most advanced
organic electronic devices available at the moment, are discussed. Chapter 3,
written by Kyung Hee University and Samsung, gives a detailed overview of
OLED Displays, a booming application that has reached the market since some
years already, and is rapidly growing to become the standard emissive technology
for flat displays. This section informs the reader about the different types of OLED
pixels in commercial use and in development, and gives insight into the most
relevant display and backplane issues.
Chapter 4, by Philips, gives a nice overview of OLED for Lighting applications.
The section begins with an insightful description of the materials, physics,
architecture and benchmarking of OLED lighting devices, to continue with an
overview of fabrication methods, reliability and commercial applications.
Chapter 5 by University of Tokyo gives an interesting vision for future organic
electronics: it will complement silicon ICs to create new applications enabling
unprecedented ways of interaction between electronics and people. In this vision
are included a variety of different organic devices (TFTs, sensors and actuators)
providing a stimulating view on how different types of organic electronics can be
integrated to enable revolutionary applications.
The sixth and seventh chapter deal with organic TFTs. Chapter 6 focuses on
applications of Printed Organic TFTs. This section, written by PolyIC, describes
the devices and technology needed to print transistors and circuits, the characteristics of printed TFTs, and what this revolutionary technology can mean in
terms of applications (RFIDs and Smart Objects). Chapter 7 by IMEC, KUL,
KHL, TNO and Polymer Vision focuses on the application of Organic TFTs to
low-cost RFIDs. This section explains how organic RFIDs are developing towards

becoming fully-compliant to existing standards for RFIDs based on silicon IC
technology. Compatibility with standards would mean that the same infrastructure
can be shared between silicon and organic RFIDs, enabling a seamless transition
between the two technologies and an easy market uptake. This does not mean,
however, that silicon and organic should serve the same markets: the characteristics of printed electronics lend themselves naturally to the dream of enabling
item-level identification of retail items, which is still out of reach for silicon
RFIDs, due to the high costs and cumbersome integration of silicon ICs with the
items to be identified.
Chapter 8, contributed by University of California Berkeley, reviews the state
of the art of Chemical Sensors based on organic electronic devices and demonstrates the specific competitive advantage that these sensors have, namely the ease
of creating matrices of sensing elements with different sensitivity to diverse
analytes, thus enabling the extraction of unique analyte signatures and greatly
improving both specificity and versatility of use.


Preface

ix

This book can be read at different levels of insight by beginners as well as by
experts in the field, and is specifically conceived to address a wide range of people
with technical and scientific background. I am deeply grateful to all contributors: I
hope you will appreciate their effort and I wish you a pleasant and fruitful reading.
Eindhoven, The Netherlands, January 2012

Eugenio Cantatore

References
1. Moore GE (2003) No exponential is forever: but ‘‘forever’’ can be delayed! In:
ISSCC 2003 digest of technical papers, pp 20–23

2. ITRS Roadmap (2011) Available at />Home2011.htm
3. Jacobi W (1949) Halbleiterverstärker, Patent DE833366, 15 April 1949
4. Cantatore E (2001) State of the art electronic devices based on organic materials.
In: Proceedings of the 31st European solid-state device research conference
(ESSDERC), pp 25–34
5. Tang CW, VanSlyke SA (1987) Organic electroluminescent diodes. Appl
Phys Lett 51:913
6. Koezuka H, Tsumura A, Ando T (1987) Field-effect transistor with polythiophene thin film. Synth Met 18:699–704
7. Brown AR, Pomp A, Hart CM, de Leeuw DM (1995) Logic gates made from
polymer transistors and their use in ring oscillators. Science 270(5238):
972–974
8. Sariciftci NS, Smilowitz L, Heeger AJ, Wudl F (1992) Photoinduced electrontransfer from a conducting polymer to buckminsterfullerene. Science
258(5087):1474–1476
9. Torsi L, Dodabalapur A, Sabbatini L, Zambonin PG (2000) Multi-parameter
gas sensors based on organic thin-film-transistors. Sens Actuators B 67:312
10. Reed MA, Chen J, Rawlett AM, Price DW, Tour JM (2001) Molecular
random access memory cell. App Phys Lett 78(23):3735–3737
11. Ouyang JY, Chu CW, Szmanda CR, Ma LP, Yang Y (2004) Programmable
polymer thin film and non-volatile memory device. Nat Mater 3(12):918–922
12. Sekitani T, Takamiya M, Noguchi Y, Nakano S, Kato Y, Hizu K, Kawaguchi H,
Sakurai T, Someya T (2006) A large-area flexible wireless power transmission
sheet using printed plastic MEMS switches and organic field-effect transistors.
In: IEEE int. electron devices meeting (IEDM), pp 287–290
13. Jurchescu OD, Popinciuc M, van Wees BJ, Palstra TTM (2007) Interfacecontrolled, high-mobility organic transistors. Adv Mater 19:688–692


Contents

1

OE-A Roadmap for Organic and Printed Electronics . . . . . . . . . .
Donald Lupo, Wolfgang Clemens, Sven Breitung and Klaus Hecker

1

2

Solution-Processed Organic Photovoltaics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Claudia N. Hoth, Pavel Schilinsky, Stelios A. Choulis,
Srinivasan Balasubramanian and Christoph J. Brabec

27

3

High-Performance Organic Light-Emitting Diode Displays . . . . . .
Jang Hyuk Kwon, Ramchandra Pode, Hye Dong Kim
and Ho Kyoon Chung

57

4

High Efficiency OLEDs for Lighting Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Coen Verschuren, Volker van Elsbergen and Reinder Coehoorn

83

5

Large Area Electronics with Organic Transistors . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Makoto Takamiya, Tsuyoshi Sekitani, Koichi Ishida,
Takao Someya and Takayasu Sakurai

101

6

Printed RFID and Smart Objects for New High
Volume Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Wolfgang Clemens, Jürgen Krumm and Robert Blache

115

xi


xii

Contents

7

Organic RFID Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Kris Myny, Soeren Steudel, Peter Vicca, Steve Smout,
Monique J. Beenhakkers, Nick A. J. M. van Aerle, François Furthner,
Bas van der Putten, Ashutosh K. Tripathi, Gerwin H. Gelinck,
Jan Genoe, Wim Dehaene and Paul Heremans

133

8

Printed Organic Chemical Sensors and Sensor Systems . . . . . . . . .
Vivek Subramanian, Josephine Chang and Frank Liao

157

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

179


Chapter 1

OE-A Roadmap for Organic
and Printed Electronics
Donald Lupo, Wolfgang Clemens, Sven Breitung
and Klaus Hecker

Abstract The roadmap for organic and printed electronics is a key activity of the
OE-A, the industrial organisation for the young organic, printed and large area
electronics industry. Organic electronics is a platform technology that enables
multiple applications, which vary widely in their specifications. Since the technology is still in its early stage—and is in the transition from lab-scale and prototype activities to production—it is important to develop a common opinion about
what kind of products, processes and materials will be available and when. This
chapter is based on the third version of the OE-A Roadmap for organic and printed
electronics, developed as a joint activity by key teams of experts in 9 applications
and 3 technology areas, informed by further discussions with other OE-A members
during association meetings. The resulting roadmap is a synthesis of these results
representing common perspectives of the different OE-A forums. Through comparison of expected product needs in the application areas with the expected

technology development paths, potential roadblocks or ‘‘red brick walls’’ such as
resolution, registration and complementary circuitry are identified.

D. Lupo (&)
Department of Electronics, Tampere University of Technology,
PO Box 692, 33101 Tampere, Finland
e-mail:
W. Clemens
PolyIC GmbH and Co.KG, Tucherstrasse. 2, 90763 Fürth, Germany
e-mail:
S. Breitung Á K. Hecker
OE-A (Organic Electronics Association), c/o VDMA, Lyoner Street 18,
60538 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
e-mail:
K. Hecker
e-mail:

E. Cantatore (ed.), Applications of Organic and Printed Electronics,
Integrated Circuits and Systems, DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4614-3160-2_1,
Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

1


2

D. Lupo et al.

Á

Á

Keywords Organic electronics Printed electronics Roadmap OE-A applications Red brick walls Organic electronics association

Á

Á

1.1 Introduction
Organic and printed electronics is based on the combination of new materials and
cost-effective, large area production processes that open up new fields of application. Thinness, light weight, flexibility and environmental sustainability are key
advantages of organic electronics. Organic electronics also enables a wide range of
electrical components that can be produced and directly integrated in low cost reelto-reel processes.
Intelligent packaging, low cost RFID (radio-frequency identification) transponders, rollable displays, flexible solar cells, disposable diagnostic devices or
games, and printed batteries are just a few examples of promising fields of
application for organic electronics based on new, large scale processable, electrically conductive and semi-conducting materials.
The following pages present a short overview of organic electronics applications, technologies and devices, as well as a discussion of the different technology
levels that can be used in manufacturing organic electronic products, based on the
third edition of the roadmap developed by the OE-A. Since the second edition we
have added further applications that we expect to play a key role in the commercialization of this emerging technology and taken account of the exciting
technical progress made recently.
In the applications section which follows, the market entry on larger scales for
the various applications is forecasted. The key application and technology
parameters relating to these applications and the principle challenges (so-called
red brick walls) to achieving these have been identified. In the subsequent technology section we summarise the projected development of relevant technologies
and take account of recent progress in new materials and improved processes.
A White Paper explaining the current edition of the roadmap in more detail can
be downloaded [1].
Organic electronics
Organic electronics is based on the combination of a new class of materials

and large area, high volume deposition and patterning techniques. Often
terms like printed, plastic, polymer, flexible, printable inorganic, large area
or thin film electronics or abbreviations like OLAE or FOLAE (Flexible and/
or Organic Large Area Electronics) are used, which essentially all mean the
same thing: electronics beyond the classical integrated circuit approach. For
simplicity we have used the term organic electronics in this roadmap, but
keep in mind that we are using the term in this broader sense.


1 OE-A Roadmap for Organic

3

1.2 Applications
Organic and printed electronics is a platform technology that is based on organic
conducting and semi-conducting as well as printable inorganic materials. It opens
up new possibilities for applications and products. A number of key applications of
organic and printed electronics have been chosen to demonstrate the needs from
the application side, identify major challenges, cross check with the possibilities of
the technology and to forecast a time frame for the market entry in large volumes.
Below, we continue to look at applications discussed in the second edition of the
roadmap. i.e. organic photovoltaic cells (OPV), printed RFIDs, organic memories,
organic sensors, flexible batteries and smart objects. We also expand on the previous application area of organic thin film transistor (OTFT) display backplanes to
look at flexible displays, and look at two new application areas, electroluminescence
(EL) and organic LED (OLED) based lighting and smart textiles.
The growing list of applications reflects the complexity of the topic and the wide
possible uses for organic electronics, and it is likely that the list will even grow in
the future. The application fields and specifications cover a wide range, and
although several parameters like accuracy of the patterning process or electrical
conductivity of the materials are of central importance, the topic cannot be reduced

to one single parameter at the time being, as is known from the famous Silicon
Roadmap (Moore’s law). Regardless, we will watch the trends and find out whether
it will be possible to find an analogue to Moore’s law for organic electronics.
The question whether there is one ‘‘killer application’’ for organic electronics
cannot be answered at this moment. There are many different fields in which the
advantages of organic electronics might result in the right product to become the
killer application, but at this point, it is too early to define which one it is. Past
experience with new technologies has shown that the predicted ‘‘killer applications’’ are frequently not the ones that really open up the largest markets.
Therefore, one has to continue the work on the roadmap, as is planned, follow the
actual trends and take account of new developments as they occur.
First organic electronic products reached the market in 2005/2006. OLED
displays are not specifically covered as such in this version of the roadmap but are
also based on organic semiconductors, and are starting to see substantial market
penetration in recent years. Passive ID cards that are mass printed on paper and are
used for ticketing or toys were presented in 2006 [2]. Flexible Lithium batteries—
produced in a reel-to-reel process—have been available for several years and can
be used for smart cards and other mobile consumer products [3]. Printed antennae
are commonly used in (still Si-based) RFID tags. Large-area organic pressure
sensors for applications such as retail logistics have also been introduced, as have
printed electrodes for glucose test strips. Recently, first OPV [4, 5] and OLED
lighting based products [6, 7] have become available and first user tests of smart
cards with built-in displays for one-time password applications have been started.
Additional products, like glass-free high resolution e-readers or rollable displays with organic TFT backplanes, printed radio frequency tags and organic


4

D. Lupo et al.

Fig. 1.1 Bag with integrated

OPV battery charger. Source
Neubers

memories, have already been demonstrated technically and have recently
approached the market. Within 2–4 years, it is expected that mass markets will be
reached and that all the above mentioned applications, and several more, will be
available in large volumes.

1.2.1 Applications Roadmap
Dye sensitised solar cell (DSSC) based organic photovoltaic products have been
produced commercially since 2007 [8]. First polymer OPV products have been
shipped, with increasing commercial availability, e.g. as flexible solar cells (see
Fig. 1.1) for a battery charger for mobile phones. For the next few years OPV will
primarily address consumer, outdoor recreational and initial off-grid markets, but
as efficiency and lifetime improve the target is to move into building integrated PV
(BIPV) and off-grid power generation mid-term and, in the long term, enter the ongrid power generation market. This will require significant technical progress in
materials and processes to deliver high efficiency, highly stable products. In this
book organic photovoltaics are further discussed in Chap 2.
Flexible displays are starting to enter the market, with roll to roll produced
segmented electrophoretic price labels already being used in stores and rollable
e-reader devices with OTFT backplanes (Fig. 1.2) and large area unbreakable
OTFT based e-reader products test marketed 2011. Displays based on electrophoretic or electrochromic media or on OLEDs are currently getting a
particularly large amount of attention, but displays based on liquid crystals,
electrowetting etc. are also possible. Further in the future, both reflective and
emissive colour displays and large area products like rollable OLED TVs or
electronic wallpaper are anticipated. However, the move to colour, high resolution
and OLEDs will require significant improvements in backplane patterning technology, display media and OTFT technology.


1 OE-A Roadmap for Organic

5

Fig. 1.2 Rollable
electrophoretic display for
e-readers and mobile phones.
Source Polymer vision

Electroluminescent (EL) and OLED Lighting is an application that is new to
the third edition of the roadmap. While OLEDs have been penetrating the display
market for some time now, only recently have significant improvements in efficiency, lifetime and large area devices made OLED an important potential source of
novel large-area, energy efficient solid-state lighting. EL signage and backlighting
is already commercial, first OLED designer lamps (Fig. 1.3) are already available,
and in the future OLED lighting will move from being a technology for design and
decorative applications to technical lighting and general illumination; this will
however, require both very high efficiency, colour purity and lifetime as well as
development of processes, materials and architectures to cut production costs.
Chap. 4 of this book further addresses OLED lighting and its applications.
Printed RFID (radio frequency identification) based on organic electronics
showed significant technical progress since the last edition of the roadmap, with
announcements of advances such as roll to roll printed high frequency (HF) tags
with 1–4 bits, as well as first organic CMOS-like circuits [9], 128 bit transponders
[10], and ultrahigh frequency (UHF) rectifiers [11], all based on organic semiconductors. In addition, there has been progress with alternative approaches such
as chipless RFID concepts. Printed antennas are already common in conventional
Si-based RFID products. A further approach for printed transponders is based on
Si nanoparticles on stainless steel substrates. These approaches are not further
taken into account in the current roadmap discussion, as this roadmap focuses on
organic/printed chips on plastic substrates. The activities of printed RFID are
targeting towards Electronic Product Code (EPCTM) compatible tags in the long
term (see Chap. 7), even though the general performance of printed RFID will be

on a lower level compared to standard RFID tags for a long time. Simple printed


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D. Lupo et al.

Fig. 1.3 OLED designer
lamp. Source OSRAM Opto
semiconductors

Fig. 1.4 Printed RFID tag.
Source PolyIC

RFID tags (Fig. 1.4) were piloted already in 2007 and should be in general
commercial use within the next few years. The future is expected to bring a trend
to larger memory, and to UHF as well as HF tags. The expected applications range
from brand protection into ticketing, identification, automation and logistics, as the
technology advances. Despite some delays in market introduction of simple RF
circuits, the rapid technical progress in the recent past makes us optimistic that
more advanced products will actually be available within the next years. Keys to
this progress will be mature high volume and low cost production processes, fast
circuits, smaller dimensions and CMOS-like circuit development, as well as
appropriate standards for organic RFID products. RFIDs are the main subject of
Chaps. 6 and 7 of this book.


1 OE-A Roadmap for Organic

7

Fig. 1.5 Game cards with
organic NV-RAM. Source
Thin film electronics

Printed Memory devices have already been introduced to the market in the
form of Read-only Memories (ROM) or Write Once Read Many (WORM)
memories in ID or game cards. Recently reel to reel fabrication of printed
rewritable non-volatile Random Access Memories (NV-RAM) was technically
demonstrated [12], and first low-density polymer NV-RAM products are available
on the market (Fig. 1.5). Future generations of printed memory products will see a
trend to higher bit density, faster reading and writing, on-board readout and a trend
to more NV-RAM, though ROM and WORM will remain important. Key technical issues to resolve in the future will include scaling of on-board readout
electronics and memory cells.
Organic Sensor devices (Fig. 1.6) open up a variety of applications. The field
has developed more rapidly than expected, with prototype temperature, chemical
and pressure sensors already demonstrated. Temperature, pressure and photodiode
sensors and sensor arrays will reach the market in the next few years. One trend
will be from yes/no sensors to analog sensors able to give a quantitative readout.
For example, potentiometric sensors for chemical analysis are already starting to
become available in a yes/no configuration but analog versions will be available
midterm. In the long term, combination of sensor devices into embedded systems
including on-board (organic) circuitry and possibly on-board display-based readout is expected to enable intelligent sensor systems. This will require significant
advances not only in the sensors themselves but also in the associated on-board
circuitry, which will require high reproducibility, reliability, yield, etc. Sensors are
further discussed in Chap. 8 of this book, while integration with circuits to enable
intelligent sensor systems is addressed in Chaps 6 and 7
Thin and flexible batteries (Fig. 1.7) are already commercially available for
discontinuous use, but there is room for improvement in price, capacity and ease of
integration into some systems. Over the next few years a trend to commercial

availability of cost-effective low capacity batteries, then higher capacity batteries
for continuous use and finally batteries that can be directly printed into electronic


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D. Lupo et al.

Fig. 1.6 Large-area organic
based pressure sensor array.
Source Plastic electronic

Fig. 1.7 Ultraslim primary
batteries for mobile devices.
Source VARTA microbattery

systems or packages is expected. Key areas for development will be optimisation
of cost-effective production and encapsulation of Li based thin batteries.
A big advantage of organic electronics is the combination and simple integration of multiple electronics devices to create smart objects. As simple
example, printed keypads, printed loudspeakers and smart cards incorporating thin
film batteries and flexible displays (Fig. 1.8) have been shown [13]. In the future
the trend will be towards inclusion of more different functionalities as well as more
complex functionalities, moving from simple input devices, animated logos or
smart cards to objects with full displays, intelligent tickets and sensors, games, and
smart packages. The variety of smart objects will be limited only by the number of
organic electronic technologies available and the creativity of product developers.
One of the key issues to look at will be taking care of mechanical and electrical
compatibility and connection between the different functions.
Another new application in the current roadmap is smart textiles, in which
functionalities such as communication, displays, sensors, or thermal management

1 OE-A Roadmap for Organic

9

Fig. 1.8 Smart card with
flexible battery and
electrochromic display.
Source OE-A

are integrated into fabric to enable wearable electronics (Fig. 1.9). First examples
of integration of LEDs, optical fibers or electroluminescent elements into apparel
are already starting to hit the market [14, 15]. Application areas range from sport,
fashion, safety and health clothing to architecture, and over time the technology
will become more complex, moving from simple sensors, keypads, light effects
etc. in the short term to more complex systems incorporating functionalities like
OPV, fuel cell and textile sensors in the future.
These application scenarios are summarized in the OE-A roadmap for organic
electronics applications in Fig. 1.10. For each of the nine selected applications
we show products that are expected to reach the market in the short (2009–2012)
and medium term (2012–2017). We also give a forecast for the long term, from
2018 onward. Such a summary over many applications is by necessity not detailed;
for each application area individual roadmaps have been prepared (see for example
roadmaps for RFID and OPV in Figs. 1.11 and 1.12). Figure 1.10 is a high-level
overview for the whole field of organic and printed electronics that has been
distilled from the individual roadmaps.
This list of products reflects the ideas from today’s point of view. Past experience
of new technology shows us that we are most likely to be surprised by unexpected
applications, and this will almost certainly happen in the exciting but nascent field

of organic electronics. Therefore the technology and the market in this field will
continuously be watched and the roadmap will be updated on a regular basis.
Significant progress has been made in the last several years and first generations
of products have already been enabled. However, in order to fulfil the more
demanding specifications of more complex future generations of products, further
improvement of materials, process, design and equipment is necessary. In the next
section we look at some of the main application parameters whose development
will be key to enabling future product generations. After that we will look at the
main technologies in organic electronics and discuss the key technology parameters underlying the application parameters.


10

D. Lupo et al.

Fig. 1.9 Sports jacket
including smart functions.
Source Francital

1.2.2 Key Application Parameters
The viability of each application or product will depend on fulfilment of a number
of parameters that describe the complexity or performance of the product (application parameters). For the applications described above groups of specialists
identified the most important application and technology parameters and
requirements for different generations of products. Here we list only a small
excerpt of the key application parameters that have been identified as relevant to
several of the applications. The following list is in no particular order since the
relevance of the different parameters varies for the diverse applications.
• Complexity of the device
The complexity of the circuit (e. g. number of transistors) as well as the number
of different devices (e. g. circuit, power supply, switch, sensor, display) that are

integrated have a crucial influence on reliability and production yield.
• Operating frequency of the circuit
With increasing complexity of the application (e.g. increasing memory
capacity) higher switching speeds are necessary.


1 OE-A Roadmap for Organic

11

Fig. 1.10 OE-A Roadmap for organic electronics applications. Forecast for the market entry in
large volumes (general availability) for the different applications. Source OE-A

• Lifetime/stability/homogeneity
Lifetime (shelf and operation), the environmental stability, stability against
other materials and solvents, and homogeneity of the materials are issues due to
the intrinsic properties of the materials used in organic and printed electronics.
• Operating voltage
For mobile devices powered by batteries, PV or radio frequency, it is essential
to have low operating voltages (\10 V).
• Efficiency
The conversion efficiency of light to electricity or electricity to light is a key
parameter for photo-voltaic cells and photodiodes or OLEDs, and power efficiency


12

D. Lupo et al.
OE-A Roadmap for Organic / Printed RFID
Product

Generations
Item level tagging,
EPC, identification

os
,

pr
ot
ot
yp
es

96+bit
HF + UHF
standardized

de
m

logistics,
automation

La
b

16 –64bit
HF

lity

bi

la
ai

v

la

a
er

en

G
Brand
protection,
e-ticketing,

1–8bit
HF
©OE-A 2009

Maturity

Short term
(2009- 2012)

Medium term

(2012-2017)

Long term
(2018+)

Fig. 1.11 Applications roadmap for printed RFID. Source OE-A image and Source PolyIC
OE -A Roadmap for Organic Photovoltaics

η ≤ 15 %
> 10 years
< 3 € / Wp

Product
Generations

η ≤ 10 %
≤ 10 years
< 5 € / Wp

η≤3 %
≤ 3 years
~ 10€ /Wp
© OE -A 2009

,p
os

m

b

La

η≤5 %
≤ 5 years
< 10€ / Wp

yp

ot

t
ro

de

Roof top grid
connected

es

Off-grid buildings
Facade & BIPV

ity

bil

Outdoor recreational
application & remote

al
er

a
ail
av

n
Ge
Consumer
Electronics

Maturity
Short term
(2009 -2012)

Medium term
(2012 -2017)

Long term
(2018+)

Fig. 1.12 Applications roadmap for OPV. Source OE-A image and Source Konarka

of circuitry is also important for many applications, especially those which are
mobile and need to be light weight.
• Cost
Although most applications target new applications and markets rather than
replacements, costs have to be low. For some applications, such as rollable

1 OE-A Roadmap for Organic

13

displays, a cost premium over conventional rigid displays may be accepted,
while for other applications, e.g. in packaging, low cost will be a major driving
factor.

1.3 Technology
As we have mentioned before, we use the term organic electronics for brevity to
refer to the field of electronics beyond classical silicon IC approaches, but include
concepts such as large area or flexible circuits and printed inorganic materials.
Although some classic device concepts are used, materials, including substrates,
and patterning processes are very different from those used in the conventional
electronic industry. In this section we review key materials, processes and devices
for organic electronics and discuss the key technology parameters that are critical
for development of future products. A more detailed description of the printing and
other patterning processes, materials and devices can be found in an article in the
1st edition of the OE-A brochure, published in 2006 [16] and in Chap. 2 of this
book.

1.3.1 Materials
Organic electronics rely on electrically active materials such as conductors,
semiconductors, dielectrics, luminescent, electrochromic, electrophoretic or
encapsulation materials. The materials have to be carefully chosen since process
conditions and the interplay with other layers have a large influence on the performance of the device; for example the choice of appropriate dielectrics and of
encapsulation materials can be critical for the performance and the stability of an
organic electronic product. In this edition of the roadmap we have focused primarily on conducting and semiconducting materials, though in future editions we

plan to include other classes of materials as well.
There are many approaches on the material side and the pros and cons of the
different approaches—organic or inorganic, solution based or evaporated—are still
under discussion. It is very likely that several approaches will be used in parallel.
Organic conductors such as PEDOT:PSS are starting to be widely used for
electrodes in a variety of applications. Organic conductors can be highly transparent, and with recent progress in conductivity PEDOT:PSS is starting to become
a realistic replacement for Indium tin Oxide (ITO) in some applications
(Fig. 1.13). Inorganic materials like silver and other metals (e. g. as filled pastes or
ultra-thin films) are also useful if still higher conductivity is needed.
Organic Semiconductors are used in numerous active devices and many of
them are solution processable and can be printed. Figure 1.14 shows the structures
of the organic conductor PEDOT:PSS, of the common polymer semiconductor


14

D. Lupo et al.
Conductivity of the Transparent Organic Conductors

Conductivity [S/cm]

1000
800
600
400
200
0
1998
2000
© OE - A 2009

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

Year

Fig. 1.13 Progress of the electrical conductivity of PEDOT:PSS-dispersions over the past
10 years. Source OE-A

poly-3-hexyl-thiophene (P3HT), and of the widely used molecular semiconductor
pentacene [17–19]. Organic semiconductor materials are starting to be available as
pre-formulated inks (see Fig. 1.15). The charge transport properties depend on
both the molecular structure and the deposition conditions such as solvents,
deposition technique, concentration, interfaces etc. Most of the organic semiconductors used today are p-type (like pentacene and polythiophene), but n-type
materials are becoming more widespread; having both p- and n-type materials
enables CMOS-type circuits, which have significant advantages, e.g. lower power
consumption. The charge carrier mobility of organic semiconductors, though still
much lower than crystalline silicon, has improved dramatically in recent years,
already matching amorphous silicon (a-Si), and is expected to approach or match
polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) in coming years, first in research, where mobilities
of up to 2.5 cm2/Vs have already been reported, and some time later in commercial products (Fig. 1.16) [20]. This will be possible with optimized small
molecule materials and polymers or new materials as e. g. inorganics, nanomaterials, carbon nanotubes or hybrid materials.
Small molecule organic semiconductors are of growing interest. These materials have usually been deposited by vacuum evaporation or other vapour-phase

processes, but more recently deposition is no longer restricted to evaporation
processes; several semiconductors of this type can be processed in solution or
dispersion and therefore are compatible with solution coating or mass printing
processes. In addition, high throughput evaporation processes might enable the
large-scale use of this class of materials.
Inorganic materials such as metal oxides [21] or solution processible Si [22]
have also generated much interest recently; these can be deposited by vapour
phase processes or from solution as nanoparticles or precursors, with reported
mobilities in the range of poly-Si for metal oxides and even higher for solution